Friday, May 2, 2007
Political apathy prevalent on campus
By Matthew Schwabenbauer
assistant news editor
mjss3B7@psu.cdu
April 4, 2008
A quick look around campus reveals a vibrant and
youthful community, a community with an extreme
ly diverse student body, encompassing many differ
ent backgrounds and walks of life. From students
playing Frisbee outside of their dorms, studying at
the library or passing around fliers outside of
Bruno’s, Behrend has an extremely individualistic
student body.
With any collection of diverse
young people usually conies an equal
ly diverse collection of political views,
but political affiliations are not readily
communicated around campus. At
most universities, political signs are a
common sight- especially so close to a
presidential election. Unfortunately,
Behrend is severely lacking in any
form of political expression.
However, it is impossible to say that
there is no political awareness on cam
pus. There is the occasional button on
someone's clothing, and tables sup
porting candidates and distributing
pamphelts outside of Bruno's have
garnered some attention, but most stu
dents are not actively supporting any of the presi
dential candidates.
An explanation for this political passiveness is
difficult to locate. For some students, the current
presidential candidates are to blame. “I don’t sup
port any of the candidates, and I really don’t have an
explanation why. I guess none of them stick out to
me,” said Gary Cooper, a freshman Plastics
Engineering major. "I’m not too happy with the
choices for this election."
Apathy may be an excuse for some, but during an.
election with such extreme supporters for each can
didate it can't be the sole explanation for the lack of
politics on campus. Some students are simply too
unfamiliar with the current candidates to make a
decision one way or the other. “I don’t really know
too much about any of the current candidates,” said
freshman Shane Appel, a Plastics Engineering
major. “I don't think anyone should support a politi
cian unless they are one hundred percent sure about
them. Even if someone knows nothing about a cer
tain politician, their vote counts as much as some-
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Beacon ”
By Scott Muska
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Protest songs raise political awareness among college students
By Scott Muska
managing editor
srmsoB2@psu.edu
Aug. 31,2007
Since the tragic attacks on September 11, 2001,
the collective population of the United States has
become increasingly politically aware. The country
has become divided on many different topics, but
the most fervently debated has been the war in Iraq.
An increasingly popular way for these arguments
and opinions to be voiced to a vast audience has
been through music recordings and performances,
and such songs have been dubbed “protest songs.”
Protest songs are currently making their way into
mainstream pop culture in a way that mirrors the
Vietnam War era, when they reached an astounding
popularity and influenced the minds and opinions
of youths all over the country. Now, just as then,
they have to do mainly with the current war and the
alleged lack of justification for it.
Neil Young and John Lennon were some of the
more popularized advocates of protests songs in the
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one who knows politics inside and out.”
A lack of an outlet to support a certain candidate
is causing detriment to some. “I would put up signs
for a candidate, but I just don’t know where to get
them,” said freshman James Svolos, a Psychology
major.
With politics so scarce on campus, and many stu
dents clearly uninformed on the current election, it’s
surprising that student political organizations are
not campaigning more aggressively. One way for
politically uninformed students to get more
involved with the current election is to subscribe to
mailing lists for College Democrats or Republicans.
Signup sheets for each organization can sometimes
'7 don't think anyone should
support a politician unless
they are one hundred percent
sure about them. Even if
someone knows nothing about
a certain politician their vote
counts as much as someone
who knows politics inside and
out”
~Shane Appel
candidates. Recently, interest in certain candidates
has drawn small groups of people to booths outside
of Bruno’s, but nothing on the level of a rally.
Student political organizations meet weekly, but
many students are completely unaware of where or
when these meetings take place. “I had no idea that
College Democrats or College Republicans had
meetings,” said Matt Kirkpatrick, a freshman
Plastics Engineering major. “I’ve never seen any
information on how to get involved with these
organizations. You’d think things like that would
have a bigger presence on campus.”
With any luck, the political apathy currently
plaguing our campus should end as the election
approaches. As more students become educated
about the candidates, hopefully that will be reflect
ed around Behrend. If enough people decide to start
projecting their political views by putting up signs,
distributing pamphlets or organizing rallies, then
eventually Behrend may look like a typical college
campus. More people supporting their candidates
will inspire others to air their political views and
take an active stanie bn thefuture oft heir country.
‘6os and ‘7os, and they are still impacting the genre
today. Last year, Young released an album titled
Living With War that was basically an entire protest
record on which he attacked the
Bush administration over many of
the highly-debated current political
topics. He included the Iraq War,
steroids in baseball, the destruction
of New Orleans as a result of
Hurricane Katrina, the Patriot
Act,and other supposed fallacies
Lennon became known as one of
the most politically aware musicians
of his or any other time, and his
work with The Beatles and as a solo
artist live on with much popularity
to this day. A cover album of some
of Lennon’s songs, called Instant
Karma, was recently released as part
of Amnesty International’s effort to Tom Morello performs solo
stop the genocide in Darfur, Sudan. It
includes covers by such popular artists as Christina
Aguilera, Green Day, U 2, REM, and Snow Patrol.
Along with many of the other songs, Green Day’s
cover of “Working Class Hero” has garnered
be found outside of
Bruno’s, but other than
that there are few oppor
tunities to get involved.
At many uni
versities, members of
student political organi
zations are frequently
informing students on
the current election.
Whether it be giving out
buttons, or pamphlets of
information, or having
rallies in support of can
didates, the word is
being spread about the
Brett Favre: the man, the myth, the legend
By Scott Muska
student life editor
srmsoB2@psu.edu
10/12/07
On a Sunday two weeks ago I
witnessed history. 1 was sitting
on the couch with my room
mates watching the Packers
game, a game in which Brett
Favre broke the record previ
ously held by Dan Marino for
the most touchdown passes
thrown by a quarterback in the
history of the NFL.
This, to some people, is very
significant. To me, though, it is
just a record, but it did get me
thinking about other issues, like
politics.
A new president will be elect
ed a little less than 13 months
from now, and George Bush
will leave the office with his
tail between his legs and having
been deemed by some the worst
president to ever run our coun
try. I won’t say that he was the
worst, but I can definitely see
that there is room for improve
ment.
But who? As of now there
are so many candidates, it’s
hard to have a definitive idea of
whom 1 should vote for. It’s
going to be a unique race, at
least compared to the other
elections I have been alive for,
in that there is such a diverse
selection of candidates.
It’s very plausible that the
next leader of our country
could be the first woman
(Hillary Rodham Clinton),
Mormon (Mitt Romney), or
black (Barak Obama) president.
There’s even a chance that our
next Commander-In-Chief
could be the first actor since
Reagan (Fred Thompson).
Since there are so many
potential firsts in the upcoming
race, I started to wonder why
not the first former professional
quarterback president? Gerald
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immense publicity, and its video features Sudanese
refugees speaking about life in Darfur and the hard
ships their countrymen endure.
The vast majority of the
protest songs that are coming
out have a very pacifistic tone,
and they often attack George
Bush in very merciless ways.
The single from Neil Young’s
Living With War is titled “Let’s
Impeach the President,” and the
increasingly popular Conor
Oberst of Bright Eyes has come
out with a song called, “When
the President Talks to God.”
Maroon 5 has admitted that
they are speaking out against
President Bush at times in their
newly released album, It Won i
Be Soon Before Long , and Rage
Against the Machine guitarist,
Tom Morello, has recently released a solo album
under the name The Nightwatchman called One
Man Revolution on which he vehemently
denounces the government.
Ford played college football for
the University of Michigan, and
as far as I know he did a decent
job during his presidential
term.
I truly believe that Brett
Favre would make a good
Commander in Chief, for a
number of reasons that I feel 1
should describe, because if
you’re to this point in the arti
cle, you probably think that I’m
just a kid trying to be funny, but
I assure you my reasoning is
sensible.
Firstly, Favre is arguably the
greatest leader to run a football
team in the last two decades,
and to be a president you obvi
ously must have above average
leadership skills. 1 don’t want
to compare what happens on a
football field to the catastro
phies and responsibilities that
presidents continuously have to
deal with, because know they
are extremely different, but
there are certain parallels. He
is also considered to be a great
leader off of the field as well,
and he is a very articulate
speaker during interviews,
which is something that can’t —
by no fault of his own—be said
about President Bush.
To go along with his leader
ship skills, he’s been noted to
consider his teammates very
highly in the decisions that he
makes. When he was consider
ing retiring after last season, he
consulted with his coaches and
teammates to get their input,
and he’s been repeatedly
rumored to consult his
receivers on areas that he could
improve. It seems as though
he’s always putting others
before himself, a trait that
could help the condition in Iraq
and the war on terror, probably
the most argued issue in current
American politics. If president,
Favre would undoubtedly con
sult with the soldiers, govern-
Not only are artists penning protest songs, they
are also speaking out between songs during con
certs and events about the way they feel things are
being mishandled. Shortly after Hurricane Katrina,
Kanye West said that George Bush "doesn’t care
about black people," and Dave Matthews has spo
ken out openly against the treatment of the soldiers
in Iraq and the war in general saying that he “fears
that our true motivation is about oil and our own
flailing economy; about the failure to destroy A 1
Qaeda and about revenge.”
Whether the war in Iraq is justified or not is an
extremely debatable issue that has become subject
to many schools of thought. Whether the artists
who put out these songs are inherently right or not
has become an afterthought. What has come to the
forefront of the protest songs as of late has not been
that the ideals presented through them are sound or
righteous, but that political opinion is being spread
in the popular culture mainstream, which is getting
more of the nation involved in deciding its political
direction. This will grow increasingly more impor
tant in the coming year, when a new president will
be elected and the direction of the nation will defi
nitely change.
The Behrend Beacon I
ments, and countries involved,
without worrying about his own
agenda.
A big black mark on the Bush
Administration's legacy is how
he supposedly dealt with the
New Orleans area in the time
immediately following
Hurricane Katrina. I don’t feel
that this would be a problem
with Favre. I believe that he
would respond to natural disas
ters quickly and efficiently, and
as a matter of fact, he already
has. In the days following
Katrina’s destruction of the
south, Favre formed the Brett
Favre Fourward Foundation, a
charity organization designed
to give aid to those who were
negatively affected by the hur-
If you watch a Favre inter
view, or if you've seen him in a
public setting, it's not difficult
to figure out that he is not pre
tentious when it comes to pub
lic image. Not only will he say
exactly what he's feeling, but
he also seems not to be worried
about people judging his mode
of dress. In the press confer
ence following his record
breaking game, he showed up
in a black pocket t-shirt, khaki
cargo shorts and a pair of hik
ing boots.
I know it's impossible for
Favre to become the president
in 2008, because it is too late
now to declare to run, but I’m
holding onto hope for 2012.
I've seen Favre throw countless
touchdown passes, and his cel
ebration is always the same.
He sprints to the endzone. and
picks up the receiver that
caught the pass. He runs
around carrying them on his
back, mimicking how he carries
his team on his back.
And that’s exactly what he
could do for this country.
—“““““——I